Fig. 11

Representative examples of hydrogel-mediated physical therapies including PTT (a–e), PDT (f), SDT (g–i), and RT (j–l). a Schematic of an DNA-inorganic hybrid hydrogel for enhanced PTT. b Temporal progression of the hydrogel’s temperature under NIR light irradiation. a, b reproduced with permission from ref. ⁶²¹ Copyright 2020, John Wiley and Sons. c Schematic of a thermos-responsive hydrogel facilitating thermostatic PTT for improved bacteria-infected wound healing. d Transmittance of the gel under different temperature conditions (upon 808 nm NIR irradiation). e Thermal images of photothermal nanoparticles with/without the gel upon NIR irradiation. c–e reproduced from ref. ⁶²⁵ f Schematic of a light-triggered hydrogel incorporating Ce6-modified CAT for robust PDT. Reproduced with permission from ref. ⁶³⁷ Copyright 2019, John Wiley and Sons. g Schematic of an injectable self-healing hydrogel containing BaTiO₃ for SDT aiming at improving bacterial-infected wound healing. h Survival rates of E. coli and S. aureus after varying durations of ultrasound treatment, demonstrating the gel’s antibacterial efficacy. i Assessment of blood loss in a rat liver hemorrhage model, showcasing the gel’s bioadhesive properties (Inset: representative images of a liver hemorrhage model treated with/without the bioadhesive hydrogel). g–i reproduced from ref. ⁶⁴⁷ j Schematic of a ¹³¹I-Cat/ALG hybrid hydrogel for localized immunostimulatory RT. k Photoacoustic imaging illustrating the ratio of oxygenated hemoglobin to deoxygenated hemoglobin in tumors following gel injection at various time points. l. Ex vivo biodistribution of ¹³¹I-Cat after gel injection at different time points. (Abbreviations: Li liver, Sp spleen, Ki kidney, He heart, Lu lung, Sk skin, Mu muscle, Bo bone, St stomach, In, intestine, Tu, tumor). j–l reproduced with permission from ref. ⁶⁵⁴ Copyright 2018, Springer Nature. Adobe Illustrator was used to generate this figure